Duration: 5’00”. 16mm. Colour/B&W. UTS student film project.
At lunchtime on the 9th of November 1960, renowned African-American singer Paul Robeson gave an impromptu performance, for the workers on the construction site of what was to become the Sydney Opera House.
It was to be one of the last concerts this outspoken socialist ever gave, to his "most important audience", the workers.
As a man deliberately erased from many histories, recollections of his visit lie largely in the domain of oral history. The documentary script uses historical sources, personal memories and myth, and attempts to question the notion of archival "truthfulness".
Four Australians who met Paul Robeson tell of the impact he had upon them.